1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for conserving a cadaver, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for conserving a cadaver, wherein: the apparatus forms a container such as caskets, corpse containing disaster pouches and the like; the interior of the container is kept at a low temperature and also sterilized to prevent the cadaver from putrefying so as to be free from any obnoxious odors, and to prevent bacteria from propagating therein; and, the inside of the cadaver is cleaned and cooled so that the cadaver is conserved for a long period of time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a casket and like corpse containing means is cooled to prevent a cadaver from putrefying so as to be free from obnoxious odors. In order to cool the cadaver, it is conventional to use a suitable cooling means such as dry ice, electric coolers and like cooling means. Of these cooling means, dry ice is the most simple means for cooling the cadaver. However, dry ice has a distinct drawback because of its difficulty in temperature control, which often causes a partial freeze of the cadaver.
On the other hand, as for the electric coolers, it is necessary to provide such electric cooler in each of the caskets. However, the casket provided with the electric cooler is costly, and, therefore disadvantageous from the economical point of view. In addition, this type of casket is noisy in operation, and difficult in temperature control when disconnected from its electric cooler. Further, in transportation, this type of casket may lack a power supply. There is another method for cooling the casket, which uses an electronic cooler, for example such as Peltier devices, and, therefore costly and poor in cooling power. Since the casket using the electric or electronic cooler comprises non-burning materials, it is necessary to replace the casket's lid comprising such non-burning materials with a combustible lid before the casket is carried out of the house, which often takes much time and labor.
When the casket containing the cadaver is carried out of the house, the family of the deceased often touches the cadaver, which facilitates propagation of bacteria especially in hot weather. Consequently, in case that the cadaver is, contaminated with contagium, it is highly possible that the family thus touched the cadaver takes a direct infection of such contagium. However, in the prior art, there is no idea of positive sterilization of bacteria which contaminate the cadaver and the vicinity thereof.
Further, in Europe and other reunions, in order to retain the appearance of the live person as to a dead body, a so-called "embalming" has been extensively used. Embalming is an operation in which an incision is first formed in each of a carotid artery, i.e., principal artery in a neck; portion and another principal artery in a groin portion of the dead body; and, then an antiseptic solution, which is colored red, is injected into the dead body through the incision formed in the neck portion and the blood drained from the dead body together with the thus injected antiseptic solution through the other incision formed in the groin portion of the dead body, so that all the blood vessels are filled with the red antiseptic solution thus injected therein, which enables the dead body to retain the appearance of the live person. As for the abdomen of the dead body, it is also possible to apply embalming to the body by removing the viscera thereof and injecting the red antiseptic solution in place of the viscera. However, such embalming of the abdomen requires extremely sophisticated techniques, and, is therefore very expensive. For example, a typical facility for such embalming costs more than a hundred million yen in installation, and is therefore rare even in Europe and other regions.
As described above, the conventional method and apparatus for conserving the cadaver are causing many problems.